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Making money as a student without getting a job

25 Apr 2016

So, living off of Student Finance is kind of annoying. I mean yeah, I'm technically being given money for being a student but then, oh wait, I have to pay most of it back. I know there's the whole only paying a certain amount and only paying it when you earn a certain amount of money but still, I don't want to be in debt but I already am technically in debt, ya know.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm getting all up on my high horse or anything, but I prefer to earn my money. It's one of the reasons why I'm really looking forward to finally getting a real adult job and a real adult job. So anyway, there I am at university, with enough borrowed money, ideally wanting more of my own earned money, but also not having the time for a job. Are you with me so far? Of course, having a job is by far the best way to earn money, but sometimes that kind of commitment just isn't feasible. Balancing a social life, uni work and part-time work is pretty tough and I seriously admire anyone who does it, but there are other ways you can make a bit of money during studying.

In my opinion, making a little extra money has always come down to one thing and that is putting in the effort. So, these money making methods don't require the commitment that a job requires, but they do need you to put a little bit of effort in!

1. Selling clothes on Ebay/Depop/Vinted/wherever else

This does require some effort, as in you have to take photos of your clothes and package them up when you sell them, but it's worth it. Be savvy about what you're putting up for sale though and how you're describing it. I may do I whole blog post on this at some point, but in general, my top tips are: sell branded stuff,

2. Selling old books

This is similar to number one, but requires even less effort. Have a look on Amazon and see if it's worth your putting old textbooks and novels up for sale. Sometimes it isn't and you might as well just take them to the charity shop, but sometimes it really is. You could also see if your University will buy secondhand books off you, or post on course group pages on Facebook. My advice here would be to wait until you know there will be students around wanting to buy old books, so maybe in August and September, and then again in December and January.

3. Cashback Sites

I see this as less as making money, more as saving it. You can sign up to sites like Quidco (I can vouch for this one), or TopCashback and when you buy online, which let's face it, we all do a lot, then you can get a decent amount of money back.

4. Temporary work

Okay so this is kind of a job, but at the same time not. It involves zero commitment and it's usually quite easy to find work in cities. What you have to do is pop into your local 'Recruitment Agency', making sure that they take on temps, and fill in a couple of forms. Then you'll have to wait a while before the odd job or two appears. The downside of temp work is that it's usually not what you want to do. Last Summer I cleaned a lot of houses and was a kitchen porter, as in, I washed up for eight hours. Yeah, not cool. It brought in the monies though so it does the job.

5. Online survey sites

Some of these are sketchy central, or just really, really annoying, but they have worked for me on the odd occasion. I've used Valued Opinions in the past, and had multiple Topshop vouchers come through but another one I've heard is good is My Survey. The bad thing is that you get so many emails about surveys that you end up not fitting the criteria for which is a waste of time!

What are your top tips for making a bit of extra cash as a student? Have you struggled when relying solely on your student finance?